Tuesday, October 30, 2012

The BCCI announced on Tuesday that it has secured government permission to host Pakistan for a small tour later this year.

The BCCI in India has invited Pakistan to play 3 ODI and 2 Twenty20 matches in December-January, the 1st bilateral contests between the arch-rivals in 5 years.

We have discussed all security aspects the tour is on, board spokesman Rajiv Shukla told the media after a meeting between its officials and Indian Home Secretary R. K. Singh.

A report by the Press Trust of India said the venues for the ODI games would most probable be Chennai, Kolkata and New Delhi while the T20 matches would take place in Bangalore and Ahmadabad.

The rivals have not played a series since Pakistan's tour of India in 2007, after cricket ties were snap following the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai by militants from Pakistan.
Cricket ties have been the subject of deliberations between the governments of both nuclear-armed countries.

They have been holding usual meetings in a bid to pick up relations and finally thrash out a peace agreement.
The countries where cricket is hugely popular have fought 3 wars since independence in 1947. The Indian and Pakistani cricket teams have only met in international tournament since 2007. They clashed in the ODI World Cup semi-final in the northern Indian town of Mohali last year, a match that was attended by both countries' prime ministers.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Yuvraj has been named in the India 'A' squad that will take on England in a 3-day match at Mumbai's Brabourne Stadium, from coming October 30.

Last week, Yuvraj made 208 for North Zone versus middle Zone in the Duleep Trophy semifinal. After staging a 9-month recovery from a rare germ cell cancer, he had returned to cricket in Twenty20 International vs New Zealand and played in the ICC World Twenty20 that followed.

A good performance in the 3-day match against England will put the 30-year-old back in the reckon for the crucial No.6 spot for the upcoming Tests against Alastair Cook's team.

No spin for England
The India 'A' squad that will take on England, but, will be without a spinner, as the Sandeep Patil led selection commission decided to deprive the visitors of being over-exposed to what will be their main concern in the Tests. An all-seam attack thus comprises Irfan Pathan, Ashok Dinda, Vinay Kumar and Parvinder Awana.

The batting duties of the Raina-led side will be shared between Ajinkya Rahane, Manoj Tiwary, Robin Bist, Ashok Menaria, Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay and Abhinav Mukund. Rohit Sharma has not been included.